Dear Constant Reader,
This past Friday we were performing at Deacon Giles Speakeasy Lab in Salem. It’s a small space, so we do two shows, an early and a late. As usual for us, there aren’t any performance photos or video, alas.
Since it was Groundhog Day, Scratch had a fun idea for the show. Every act ended with a snippet of “I Got You Babe” and then Scratch went into his introduction. The same introduction every time. Perhaps a bit more frantic or frustrated or bored, as the evening went on. That was the obvious reference. I’ll see if you can figure out the more subtle one.
Did you get it? Do you see what we did there? Each half of the show was the exact same set of songs, only different arrangements and very different styles of acts. We’re so clever.
We’re also so clever in that the plan was that everyone would use one existing act and create one new one. It turned out that I used two existing numbers, because Artemisia was so in love with “Mack the Knife” (I use the German version), while she created one new act and learned a song.
We had some fun and excitement backstage. Just before the doors opened, Brigitte was getting out her pasties for “Tombstone Blues” and being a little smug that she only had to put on one pair for the whole evening, since “Night Train” was a tap dance with no stripping. Then one of the tassels just exploded into it’s component strands. Yikes! What to do?
First we realized that Betty had a pair of tasseled pasties that would match Brigitte’s outfit, but she was wearing them for one of her numbers. However, since Betty was wearing them for the first act and Brigitte would need them to close the show, there would be plenty of time for a hand-off. Then Betty asked if I had black thread in my emergency kit (yes) and said she had repaired tassels before. Before the second show, that tassel was good as new and ready to be twirled!
In Betty’s version of “Night Train”, she’s a computer geek who gets super excited about technology. At the climax, she rips off her t-shirt. She forgot to pack a second shirt for the later show, but Deacon Giles provided her (and the rest of us) with shirts.
Guilted Lily, our favorite stage kitten, came all the way from RI to help out and insisted on wearing the torn shirt *and* having Betty sign it and then her boobs. You can see it happen right here:
And here’s a bonus picture of Lily wearing Scratch’s hat & jacket. I think it’s no contest — she wore it better!
After the show we hung out and had marvelous cocktails with the staff. Mine was a simple mulled cider with spiced rum.
We’ll probably be back in a couple of months. If you want to see us sooner than that, we’ll be at the Mardi Gras Ball on Saturday with a brand-new group number and I’ll be reprising my fan dance from this show.
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It had been years since we presented a winter holiday show and we weren’t really planning on doing so. We were hired for a 
Devora Darling: Snowfall
Mina Murray: Sugar Rum Cherry
Betty reprised her injured striptease, as mentioned above. She also danced with the Devil in her signature piece, as seen in the photo. Betty is also expert with Wings of Isis. Sometimes she does a striptease, sometimes it’s a straight-up dance number, as it was this time. She included a special surprise for this performance — halfway through the dance, her wings lit up! I wish I had a good picture of the multicolored LED wings in action.
Devastasia’s disturbing bird tormented poor Nicole. She was also an adorable witch in the act she created for our Salem show.
Scratch mystified and horrified the audience with two dangerous pieces: “The Spike”, which involves attempting not to drive a three-inch steel spike through his hand and “Urban Legend” which involves an apple studded with double-edged razor blades and his mouth. There has never been an incident, but I still can’t watch them.
Once again Nicole played my naughty maid and I got to spank her in “Mistress & Maid”. Poor Nicole — first a bird, than a sadistic employer. I also presented my fan dance to “Moon Over Bourbon Street”. From where I was, the lighting for that was fabulous.
Scratch, Devastasia, Artemisia, and I went up early so we could visit the Peabody Essex Museum for 
After the shows we were treated to creative (and strong!) cocktails by the bar staff. Mine was a Far Side of the Tracks, a mix of their spiced rum and Far from the Tree cider with egg white, cream and nutmeg, pictured at right. So delicious! Brigitte’s coffee rum-based cocktail had smoke in it! I also tried something with absinthe in it and the most bizarre cider I’ve ever tasted.
I was excited for this show, which was an idea Scratch had a long time ago — we would all perform to covers of songs, mostly current pop songs covered in a vintage-ish style. Then I discovered I had been accepted to ABurlyQ! for the same weekend as the shows, which were in Salem and New Hampshire. I was delighted when we decided to do the show on our home turf too. 
Keeping with the Vegas theme, both Betty and I had new showgirl headdresses for a couple numbers, as created by Scratch (yes, he’s multi-talented). This was Artemisia’s first show with us and not only did she sing, she also performed her first striptease! We were joined by local(ish) flow performer Lexi Go-go, who dazzled us with her hooping. Her first act was done with changeable LED hoops and the second with SIX hoops. There was also magic from Scratch as well as striptease from Betty and me. The audience was appreciative, but mostly importantly, the birthday girl was very happy with the show.
Oh, The Glamourous Life! 